


Underneath

by Endraking



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Buried Alive, Gen, Kira POV, Reflection, Sprint Write, Trapped, earthquake, teen wolf legacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 18:03:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15891222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endraking/pseuds/Endraking
Summary: Kira asks Malia to help her patrol the tunnels for hunters.  They aren't prepared for the earthquake that hits while they are searching for a different kind of danger.





	Underneath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GlitterCake20](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterCake20/gifts).



Underneath

 

 

The pelting of the hard, steady rainfall was heard even further in the dank, earthen tunnels than she expected.  She wiped off the front of her smartphone and looked ahead to Malia, who effortlessly maneuvered through the poorly lit tunnels.  Kira rushed to catch up and remarked with a glance at her phone, “I don’t have a signal.  Do you have a signal?”

Malia looked to her, “No.  We’re underground.  It doesn’t work.”

She giggled nervously and rubbed the water from her head, “I guess not, and you have the whole howling thing.”  She tried to channel her nerves into humor, the darkness underground reminding her of her time spent with the Skinwalkers, “Hey, thanks for coming along.  I didn’t want to check these tunnels all by myself.”

Malia shrugged and continued to walk as she stated, “Yeah.  They aren’t good.  Too many smells to make a good den.”

She laughed at Malia’s joke only for the coyote to face her, “What’s funny?”

She stumbled over her words, “Well, I thought, you were making a joke.  Like too many people down here or something.”

Malia stared at her for a moment, completely neutral before a small smile formed, “I guess that could be funny.”  As the coyote turned to continue walking through the tunnels, she asked, “Who or what are we looking for?”

Kira swallowed the lump in her throat, “We’re looking for hunters.  Making sure they aren’t using the tunnels.  I thought they might try so I may have volunteered to check things out.”

Malia abruptly stopped and glanced back, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

She nervously shrugged, and Malia shouted down the tunnels, “HEY!  HUNTER GUYS!  WE ARE LOST DOWN HERE!  COME FIND US!”

Her eyes widened as she hissed, “What are you doing?”

Malia brought her finger to her lips and listened.  After several moments, she shrugged, “Well, if they were down here, they would’ve heard me.”

With her eyes still wide, she demanded, “But if they were down here, you would’ve called them here?”

“What?  I don’t want to walk these tunnels if they aren’t here.”  The coyote tapped the water logged and weakened wooden support beams.  “I don’t want to get stuck here.”

She bit her lip and looked back down the tunnel towards the entrance, “This counts, right?  Like we don’t have to continue since you haven’t heard any movements.”

Almost as soon as Kira finished speaking, they heard a deep rumbling and felt the shift of the earth around them.

They looked to each other as the shifting grew more powerful and within a minute, stopped.  Kira didn’t notice she held her breath until the urge to exhale hit after the sounds stopped.  She whispered, “Earthquake?”

Malia smirked, “Maybe.”  Malia’s head tilted towards the exit before she looked back to Kira and grabbed her arm, “RUN!”

Kira caught the sound as it grew, the rapid expansion of wet earth that flowed towards them.  They ran further into the tunnels and she caught the flickering lights above a metal door to her right.  She grabbed the handle and threw it open.  She yelled to Malia, “In here!” as the coyote seemed to try to push farther. 

Malia turned and lost her balance, falling to the unforgiving floor.  She reached out and pulled Malia into the room and slammed the sliding metal door closed just in time to hear the crash of the flowing wall of mud hit the door.

Malia looked to her with a small smile, “Thanks.”

She melted into the praise, blushing as she shrugged, “Yeah.  It was nothing.  So what do we do now?  Wait for it to settle and head out?”

Malia pushed herself to her feet and looked around the carved out and reinforced room before she answered, “Maybe.”

Kira looked around the room with Malia, the walls were flat with jagged edges of almost solid stone.  The wooden supports lined the walls and held the wooden ceiling, which no doubt kept the room solid against the earth above.  The room was cast in a weak glow from the bulb above attached to a line that ran out of the room, above the metal door.  The floor was slick and held the must of the deep. 

She asked uneasily, “There aren’t any exits in this room?”

Malia shook her head, “No.  Smells like guns.  Used for storage.”

Malia took a deep breath before she walked to the door and pulled on the handle to slide it open.  It groaned against her attempt and refused to move.  She pulled harder and the long, rusted metal handle tore free. 

Kira asked, “Why isn’t the door opening?  Are we trapped here?”

Malia flashed her eyes blue and extended her claws as she dug them in to the edge of the door and tried to pull it along the rails.  After a considerable amount of effort, the door budged slightly but the wheels twisted and sheered off the railings.  The metal buckled inward and soft earth applied more pressure to it, locking it canted into the room.

She pulled out her cell and immediately tried to place a call.  The familiar double tone of being outside of signal was heard.  She paced towards the back of the small, shadowed room and tried again.  Double tone.  She looked to the top and saw the words taunting her: No Signal.

Her anxiety grew as she looked to Malia, who began to pace the edge near the door, “Hey, you can howl, and they can hear us, right?  Like call for someone to help up?”

Malia glanced to her before she released a loud, feral howl.  The sound seemed to vibrate and ricochet around the room but only seemed to dissipate within.

She looked to the floor, turning off her phone, “I think we are trapped.”

Malia darted towards the walls and reached up with her claws.  She tracked the top rim of the room before she reached back to the door.  She tried to claw against the mud towards the top but only succeeded in getting her fingertips covered in thick mud. 

Kira asked after she watched Malia, “What are you doing?”

Malia glanced back and almost snarled, a sound of fear and desperation, “The room is sealed.”

Kira’s eyes widened as the overhead light flickered weakly, “So we need to get out of here like right now.  Faster than right now.”

Malia began trying to scratch through the earthen wall.  Clumps of dirty tore away as she torn through the softer bits.  Her claws hit the firm stone hard and she screamed out, leaving behind a streak of blood.  Kira gasped and ran to her, “Malia, don’t do that.  Let me try.”

Malia looked to her as Kira pulled off her belt and formed the sword.  She cut sections into the wall until her blade thudded against the rock.  Malia growled, “One of these walls has to be softer.”

The two women cut and clawed through the walls of exposed dirt until they hit stone walls.  They huffed, breathless from the exertion, having shed the weaker mud from the walls and exposed the solid rock behind it.  Their eyes turned towards the door and Kira asked, “Could we open it, get through the mud?”

Malia snarled and charged towards the door.  She tried to force it to move further only for it to shift slightly, the weight and pressure holding it in place.  Kira joined her by the edge and they tried with all their might, but the door didn’t budge another inch.

Malia collapsed to the floor and huffed, “It won’t move.  We’re trapped.”

Kira transformed her sword back into her belt and replaced it on her waist.  She began to softly sob.  Her thoughts went back to asking Malia to join her in the tunnels.  It was her fault they were down here.  It was her fault they ran into this room.  She trapped them.  She began to mutter, “Malia, I’m sorry.  I’m sorry I brought you down here.  And into this room.  I shouldn’t- “

Malia shot her an inquisitive look, “Kira, you didn’t do this.  Unless you made the earthquake and mudslide, then I might be pissed at you.  We’ll get out.  We just need to take a break.”

Kira stepped next to the coyote and slid down to the floor to join her.  She stared at the floor, “Maybe the pack heard you.  They know that we were going on a patrol this evening and we were going into the tunnels.  They’ll rush here any minute now.”

Malia looked to her and asked curiously, “Why’d you come back?  Your parents left.  We would’ve understood if you wanted to leave Beacon Hills.  I was trying to leave.  It sucks here.”

She giggled at the honestly, “I felt like I still belonged here.  I wanted to see everyone, spend a little time back and decide what to do.  I don’t know where I’d go but at least Beacon Hills was safe, you know.”

Malia’s eyes widened as she laughed, “Safe?  Beacon Hills?  This is the least safe place ever.  We have hunters and monsters, magical trees, earthquakes and _Theo_.  Nothing here is safe.”

She nibbled her lip and looked away as she whispered, “Well, you’re safe.”

Malia placed her arm around Kira’s shoulder and pulled her closer.  “That’s sweet.  Still not a reason to come back.”

The girls laughed together.  They didn’t know how much time passed as they waited.  They kept an ear out for any signs that someone was coming but the clock seemed to tick.  Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours, and they began to feel sore, their heads throbbing.

Kira looked to Malia and noticed the layer of cold sweat that covered her and how pale her skin had become, “The room is air tight.  Probably sealed with mud.”

Malia nodded and remarked coldly, “We could die down here.  I don’t want to die here.”

Kira shook her head, “Neither do I.  We could try again.  Maybe go up.”

Malia looked to the ceiling and saw the bulges of earth between the boarded and supported roof.  She shook her head and pointed, “It’ll collapse.”

Kira’s eyes followed Malia’s finger, “How do you know that?  What if that was shook free from the earthquake?”

The coyote replied, “It would’ve moved again.  Aftershocks.”

Kira’s eyes widened, “Aftershocks?  We haven’t felt any.”  Her brain slowly caught up as she explained to herself, “Which would make sense because we are below the surface.  We only felt something because of how strong the earthquake was.  Which means up top things might be a disaster.”

Malia nodded, “That’s why it’s taking the pack so long.”

Kira curled into Malia’s hold, “I really don’t like these tunnels.”  In a tiny, pathetic voice she whispered, “I’m scared.”

Malia pulled her tight to her body and kissed her forehead, “I’ve got you, Kira.  I’m right here.”

 

Clump after clump.  Chunk after chunk.  Slowly the progress was made.  It took longer for the pack to mobilize after the earthquake and sadly even more time to realize that Malia and Kira were still missing.  Only when they thought about tracking the GPS ping did they find the last known location.  The mud completely covering and filling most of the tunnels didn’t help. 

It was thick, solid, like pushing cement that had almost finished hardening.  They had to keep going, clear the path.  They had to make it.  Pack was pack.  Pack fought for each other.  Pack risked all for each other.  Pack saved each other.  Whether it was hunters or Dread Doctors, or assassins, or nasty things that go bump in the night.  Or earthquakes and mudslides.

With huffed breathes he carved a hole and the mud on the opposing side clumped and fell into a room.  He frantically dug as he caught the scents.  The scent of family.  The scent of pack.  With a strength he didn’t think he could possess, he bent the top of the metal door.  When he slid through the opening he yelled back, “I’ve found them…”

The words died in his throat as his eyes fell on them.  Their faces ashen, their lids closed and bruised, their lips blue as the two clung to each other.  The tears began to flow before his brain caught up to what his heart felt.  He could only hear his heartbeat.

He rushed to them and knelt down, placing his hands on their necks and felt their cooling skin.  He slowly ran his fingertips across and found a fading warmth between them.  The hours were too many.  The coyote held the fox as Scott’s heart broke.  Again.


End file.
